LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure ContinuesReview

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Throw me the whip! Better yet, just give me back the original game.

By Chris Roper

When we first heard about the original LEGO Star Wars game, we were taken aback by the very unique idea and wondered if it would actually wind up being a fun experience. It turns out that it was indeed great fun, and subsequent releases only improved on the formula by offering more content, more unlockables and simply an overall bigger experience. Now, after the release of three Star Wars takes, a Batman title and one Indiana Jones game, things have started to get a little stale, and LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues doesn't help. It does offer some tweaks to the formula, but unfortunately, none of them are for the better.

At its very core, the gameplay remains nearly identical to past LEGO titles. You wander into a stage, smash everything in sight and collect studs as your reward. Really, the only notable change to the gameplay mechanics is the ability to use Indy's whip to a greater extent. In the previous game, you had to be near a certain spot to use it to latch onto something or someone. Now, you can hold the attack button for a second and an aiming reticle will pop up, allowing you to choose what you want to lasso. You can still only use it on characters or specific hooks in a level, but being able to do so from any reasonable spot rather than a specific, highlighted area is nice.

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Other than that, it's the same old song and dance in terms of what you can do. Two-player co-op returns once again, and as you can't actually die (you just lose some studs and then respawn), it can make for a fun game to play with pretty much anyone of any age.

Having said that, Traveller's Tales did make some missteps in terms of level design with this title. Some sections will have you fight wave after wave of enemies, and as combat isn't the game's strongest suit in my opinion, these segments just act as clock tickers to make the experience last longer. Likewise, some vehicle-based sections have you hop into a ride and take out wave after wave of enemy vehicles. This happens once for every major film segment in the game, and it quickly gets annoying.

Now, though the core gameplay hasn't really changed much, a lot of the presentation has and pretty much all for the worse. Firstly, while LEGO Indy 2 focuses on the fourth film, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it does include the first three movies as well. The problem is that these first three films are really rushed here and only take about an hour each to complete. They all skip major segments of the films, including the classic opening to Raiders where Indy snatches the golden idol, runs from the giant boulder and flees from the natives. What's left is a mish-mash of random parts from the films, and if you haven't seen them before, you'd have no idea what was going on.

The new hub worlds are a mess.

Furthermore, a ton of liberties were taken with regards to what happens in each of the four films. At the end of each of the first three movies and after each of the three major chapters for the fourth film, you'll fight some sort of giant boss monster. I don't remember seeing Indy face off against a giant antman monster in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or a giant electric "ghost" creature at the end of Raiders. Lots of other things happen that don't actually take place in the films, and the result is that the game feels more like a mockery of the movies rather than a playful homage to them.

But that's not all. One of the best parts about all of the previous LEGO games was buying new characters and vehicles and then going back into previous levels to find and unlock new secrets. That doesn't really happen here the same way that it used to. The main story levels don't actually contain any secrets of any sort, so playing them again in the original manner is only good for collecting more studs. Instead, you'll find a number of bonus stages in each hub (which I'll come back to in a second), and playing through these net you the golden treasures. By and large, these bonus stages are uninteresting and boring, and a number of them are very simplistic in terms of visuals.